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I say it depends on the dictator. Most tend to be pricks SOB’s, but some come through as more benevolent. I’m convinced there are societies that work best with a dictatorship headed by a benevolent one. In such societies, in democracy it’s hard to have people following most of the laws at any given time, but those same people are orderly in a dictatorship. There are places that while they were in a dictatorship it was squeaky clean and now in democracy litter and garbage is everywhere in many places. Everything worked when it was in a dictatorship (open the faucet and drinkable clean water comes out all the time, flick the switch and the light always come on, and safety was a given; yet, the same place under a democracy has many blackouts, constant water shortages and often the water isn’t drinkable, a noticeable increase of crime, etc.) The same people.
The broad sweep of human history proves you wrong. But don't let empirical facts get in the way.
As Churchill once stated, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others."
Democracies are on average are much more prosperous than non-democracies, produce faster/better economic growth, are less likely to go to war, have a better rack record of sustained civil/human rights and have a better record of fighting corruption. And of course, democracy lets people speak their minds and shape the future which helps lead to the good outcomes noted above.
The broad sweep of human history proves you wrong. But don't let empirical facts get in the way.
As Churchill once stated, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others."
Democracies are on average are much more prosperous than non-democracies, produce faster/better economic growth, are less likely to go to war, have a better rack record of sustained civil/human rights and have a better record of fighting corruption. And of course, democracy lets people speak their minds and shape the future which helps lead to the good outcomes noted above.
That’s like saying that it’s better to be white since on average whites have higher income, better life expectancies, a higher percentage of white mwjority countries are developed, etc than nom-whites.
That’s like saying that it’s better to be white since on average whites have higher income, better life expectancies, a higher percentage of white mwjority countries are developed, etc than nom-whites.
Your attempt to deflect by making this a comparison between people within a country falls flat on its face.
What I said still stand and will always stand because it’s right. One size doesn’t fit all. It doesn’t matter how much this bothers you. Case in point is the US foreign policy of attempting to implement democracy around the world. It worked in some places and it failed miserably in others. Other places had to modify since democracy as practiced in the USA wasn’t working for them. Other places are even more democratic than the USA. Other places are dictatorships, some not doing so well and others doing better they have ever done. Same with monarchies and other sorts of political arrangements. Why is that? Why can’t one size fit all and have the same wonderful in all places at once as it does in the USA?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astral_Weeks
The wisdom of many is always better than the wisdom of one megalomaniac. Information flows are distorted by authoritarian power grabs.
Lol, there is no need to say anything. It’s clear I’m super important to you given what I say makes you respond. Everyone knows anyone else considered worthless is not even worthy of a response, that’s how precious is their time.
The old saying continues to be true: “put less attention of what people say and look at what they do.”
Keep posting links from the USA essentially saying the form of government in the USA is the best. They should be explaining why democracy didn’t work in Afghanistan. The USA took it there because it thought it would be beneficial to Afghanistan. Such a better political system wouldn’t be replaced by anyone, why would any people allow that? In the end, the USA had leave with the its tail between its legs. This was rather recent, remember that? What happen? Democracy in Afghanistan is now out of the window. Find a link from the USA explaining that.
Keep posting links from the USA essentially saying the form of government in the USA is the best. They should be explaining why democracy didn’t work in Afghanistan. The USA took it there because it thought it would be beneficial to Afghanistan. Such a better political system wouldn’t be replaced by anyone, why would any people allow that? In the end, the USA had leave with the its tail between its legs. This was rather recent, remember that? What happen? Democracy in Afghanistan is now out of the window. Find a link from the USA explaining that.
This is a jumbled argument you are trying to make. First, Who said anything about copying the US form of democracy? Democracy certainly isn't an invention of the U.S. The ancient Greeks or Romans might have a thing or two to say about that. Second, the failure of democracy to take root in Country X or Y does not mean dictatorship is preferable. It just means building democracy isn't easy....
Quote:
Originally Posted by AntonioR
What I said still stand and will always stand because it’s right. One size doesn’t fit all. It doesn’t matter how much this bothers you. Case in point is the US foreign policy of attempting to implement democracy around the world. It worked in some places and it failed miserably in others. Other places had to modify since democracy as practiced in the USA wasn’t working for them. Other places are even more democratic than the USA. Other places are dictatorships, some not doing so well and others doing better they have ever done. Same with monarchies and other sorts of political arrangements. Why is that? Why can’t one size fit all and have the same wonderful in all places at once as it does in the USA?
Lol, there is no need to say anything. It’s clear I’m super important to you given what I say makes you respond. Everyone knows anyone else considered worthless is not even worthy of a response, that’s how precious is their time.
The old saying continues to be true: “put less attention of what people say and look at what they do.”
World history is littered with examples of the "benevolent" dictator who rose to power with a promise to "fix" things, built their nations, then turned their people's hopes to ash through corruption, personality cults and violence.
This is a jumbled argument you are trying to make. First, Who said anything about copying the US form of democracy? Democracy certainly isn't an invention of the U.S. The ancient Greeks or Romans might have a thing or two to say about that. Second, the failure of democracy to take root in Country X or Y does not mean dictatorship is preferable. It just means building democracy isn't easy....
If you want to pretend the USA wasn’t the first one to apply democracy in modern times, then go ahead. It isn’t how things happened. There is a reason you have to cite civilizations from ancient history.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astral-Weeks
World history is littered with examples of the "benevolent" dictator who rose to power with a promise to "fix" things, built their nations, then turned their people's hopes to ash through corruption, personality cults and violence.
You mean the same world history of democracies that failed and of benevolent dictatorships that worked?
Singapore is a perfect example of a place that in the 1960’s was one of the poorest places in the world and today is one of the richest and most developed. All that accompliah with essentially is a benvolent dictatorship. It would had been very unlikely they would had reached thay level of wealth and development if they had another type of politics. In fact, one thing about Singapore is that anyone can go anywhere and not fear for their safety and they don’t have the equivalence of ghettoes, sone streets full of homeless people, etc. The same can’t be said of places like Los Angeles.
If you want to pretend the USA wasn’t the first one to apply democracy in modern times, then go ahead. It isn’t how things happened. There is a reason you have to cite civilizations from ancient history.
You mean the same world history of democracies that failed and of benevolent dictatorships that worked?
Singapore is a perfect example of a place that in the 1960’s was one of the poorest places in the world and today is one of the richest and most developed. All that accompliah with essentially is a benvolent dictatorship. It would had been very unlikely they would had reached thay level of wealth and development if they had another type of politics. In fact, one thing about Singapore is that anyone can go anywhere and not fear for their safety and they don’t have the equivalence of ghettoes, sone streets full of homeless people, etc. The same can’t be said of places like Los Angeles.
well it's a bit of a mixed bag isnt it? You bring up Singapore, but Japan was a democracy going from war ruined in 1945 to an economic superpower. Same with Hong Kong which was probably more democratic under British rule (and its economic heyday) than now. That being said, South Korea was a military dictatorship, so was Taiwan and of course Singapore as you mentioned.
An interesting comparison would be India vs China. Both came into their present political realities around the same time (1947 for India, 1949 for China). India has remained a democracy ever since, and China has been a dictatorship ever since. Fair to say that China had soared ahead of India economically even with some major mis steps in the 1960s under Mao. You could argue that a dictatorship was better, though I would hesitate to call the CCP a "benevolent" dictatorship.
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